"Certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison."

[Sliverofhope]

Yeah, yeah, cross posting may be annoying, but I want to see flames, dammit.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1935674

Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA

Translator in eye of storm on retroactive classification

By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff | July 5, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English.

Edmonds, 34, who is fluent in Turkish and Farsi, said she quickly reported the mistake to an FBI superior. Five months later, after flagging what she said were several other security lapses in her division, she was fired. Now, after more than two years of investigations and congressional inquiries, Edmonds is at the center of an extraordinary storm over US classification rules that sheds new light on the secrecy imperative supported by members of the Bush administration.

In a rare maneuver, Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered that information about the Edmonds case be retroactively classified, even basic facts that have been posted on websites and discussed openly in meetings with members of Congress for two years. The Department of Justice also invoked the seldom-used ''state secrets" privilege to silence Edmonds in court. She has been blocked from testifying in a lawsuit brought by victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and was allowed to speak to the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks only behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, the FBI has yet to release its internal investigation into her charges. And the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the bureau, has been stymied in its attempt to get to the bottom of her allegations. Now that the case has been retroactively classified, lawmakers are wary of discussing the details, for fear of overstepping legal bounds.

..more..

<http://www.boston.com/news/nat ... >

http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=2917

CD: Hmm, well I know you can't name names, but can you tell me if any specific officials will suffer if your testimony comes out?

SE: Yes. Certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison.

[teach1st]

1. Boston Globe link doesn't work for me NT

[Hoping4Change]

2. This is so shocking its hard to respond. Thanx for the post.

[Disturbed]

3. Another Twilight Zone situation

"Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered that information about the Edmonds case be retroactively classified."

It can't be discussed now?

Insanity!!!!

[Hoping4Change]

4. Twilight Zone is right. It has that same ominous feeling.

[tom_paine]

20. Well beyond Twilight Zone. 1984

Maybe that Twilight Zone where the Hitler character is exposed by Little Librarian played by Burgess Merideth.

Of course, if that was remade in 2004, the hero would be the Hitler and the Little Librarian would be a little liberal hippie scumbag who would be executed for the good of the State.

[Karenina]

15. Prepare yourself for another...

and the hits just keep right on coming. :argh:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=668712&mesg_id=668712

[FreakinDJ]

5. Asscrack is hiding behind the Iron curtin again

This shit sounds too much like the Old Russia. They really know how to bring us to new lows

[tom_paine]

21. Our Iron Curtain is "kinder" "gentler", a Televised Curtain

made of silky soft photons.

Our Totalitarian Tyranny is the "kinder, gentler" Tyranny of Bush/Putin "Managed Democracy".

[faithnotgreed]

6. thank you sliver for caring thismuch! fwiw, lets contact media, reps etc

and ask for more inquiry (that would be nice!) into sibel edmonds and also valerie plame

h20 man suggested it on recent plame threads and im just trying to spread the word. he points out that times joe klein has an article in 7/5 about the ci/mi anger towards the administration and we have this boston globe article about sibel....

we have to keep this out there if we can. with a grand jury investigation started (and one needing to be) maybe we can put some feet to the fire...

[rppper]

7. this needs a kick......

:kick:

[faithnotgreed]

8. kicked again

[Cats Against Frist]

9. I've been reading about this for some time

and it totally freaks me out. That Raimondo guy clued me in on it. What the hell is our media thinking about?? Shouldn't this and Plame be big discussion topics? Could they even be part of the same investigation? I've heard the Plame investigation has "long fingers," -- maybe as long as some things like this.

[Poiuyt]

10. Does the retroactive classification have anything to do with

the recent 60 Minutes program that was canceled and not rescheduled?

[InkAddict]

11. Ashcroft's move seems to be OOJ

Is America so weak that we can't overcome a security breach by the highest officials in our land - surely the best minds can get an even better plan to accomplish the promotion of the "general welfare."

[Zen]

12. "Elected officials will stand trial and go to prison" - has such a sweet

and uplifting sound to it. I am joyous just hearing such beutiful words used WRT the Asscraft brigade.

[faithnotgreed]

13. heres what i sent ny times, washington post. also short email to cnn

i titled my email "joe klein, valerie plame" (at least that may get some attention!)

or perhaps i should title this "something, anything, please"

hello in an attempt to ask someone else in the respected national media to uncover what is going on with this administration in regards to valerie plame, grand jury investigation etc, i respectfully submit this email.

there is an alarming lack of oversight of this administration, and while that may be charged to our representatives, it is clearly imperative that as a voice of the people, the national media investigate and report what in blazes is being perpetrated in our countrys name. i realize there are so many fronts to tackle with our current administration, but valerie plame and sibel edmonds are important places to start, if i may say so.
at this point i would even like a front page piece on black box voting and that threat to our democracy. again, there are so many issues, so little time...

thankfully joe klein has just recently written an article for time magazine of which im sure youre aware. please please help us out here in this wilderness who feel that little is asked or revealed of this administration, at least nothing that gets to the hard truths. and there are many which need revealing.

that is precisely how it feels. and i ask someone such as paul krugman (robin wright) to please pick up where joe klein has just taken us.

we need you desperately (and i do not believe i am overstating things by using that word). there is a grand jury investigation, and at the very least this should be reported upon so that we know there will be serious investigation into the depths of constitutional hell that we currently face.

thank you sincerely for your time and attention. you are needed and i call upon you to please do this for our countrys sake. i thank you for being among the very few that even write seriously about what may be going on.
surely with your resources, you must know that there is something going on that is very very corrupt....

thank you sincerely

[Zen]

19. I hope you capitalized you sentences in the version you sent them...

n/m

[maggrwaggr]

14. 60 minutes is SITTING on a story about her

It got preempted by emporer Reagan dying.

They're ..... just ..... sitting .....on ..... it.

It drives me nuts.

I don't have time, but SOMEBODY AT DU, please start a thread and a campaign to e-mail and call 60 minutes and demand that they run the Sibel Edmonds piece!!!!

[gandalf]

16. TURKISH intercepts contained info about terrorist plots???

Edmonds speaks Turkish and Farsi, so we can assume that she judges the translation quality of intercepts who were in these languages ("Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English.").

But who of the terrorists spoke Turkish or Farsi? Was this discussed anywhere?

[Q]

17. They USED to call this a coverup and a high crime...

...but that was when we had a working justice department, court system and a congress able to do their job without having their lives or careers threatened.

[enough]

18. This case was THROWN OUT of court yesterday, without hearing the evidence.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-FBI-Translators.html

Judge Tosses Suit by Fired FBI Translator
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 6, 2004

Filed at 7:24 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Tuesday by a whistle-blower who alleged security lapses in the FBI's translator program, ruling that her claims might expose government secrets that could damage national security.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said he was satisfied with claims by Attorney General John Ashcroft and a senior FBI official that the civil lawsuit by Sibel Edmonds could expose intelligence-gathering methods and disrupt diplomatic relations with foreign governments.
Advertisement

The judge said he couldn't explain further because his explanation itself would expose sensitive secrets.

snip>

Edmonds said the judge dismissed her lawsuit without hearing evidence from her lawyers, although the government's lawyers met with Walton at least twice privately. She noted that Walton, the judge, was appointed by President Bush.

``This shows how the separation of power has basically disappeared,'' Edmonds said in a telephone interview. ``The judge ruled on this case without actually this ever being a case.''

snip>


There is no longer a US justice system for us to rely on.

Here is this morning's DU thread on the story:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1938225

[Eloriel]

22. "Page Not Found" at Boston Globe this a.m.

Was it removed? Or -- ? Can you find it?

[Mandate My Ass]

23. We're cooked, folks.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-FBI-Translators.html

Edmonds said the judge dismissed her lawsuit without hearing evidence from her lawyers, although the government's lawyers met with Walton at least twice privately. She noted that Walton, the judge, was appointed by President Bush.

``This shows how the separation of power has basically disappeared,'' Edmonds said in a telephone interview. ``The judge ruled on this case without actually this ever being a case.''

In his decision, Walton acknowledged that dismissing a lawsuit before the facts of the case can be heard is ``Draconian'' and said he was throwing out the lawsuit ``with great consternation.''

``Mindful of the need for virtual unfettered access to the judicial process in a governmental system integrally linked to the rule of law, the court nonetheless concludes that the government has properly invoked the state secrets privilege,'' Walton ruled.

Edmonds' lawyer, Mark S. Zaid, called the decision ``another example of the executive branch's abuse of secrecy to prevent accountability.''

``The judiciary seems to be unwilling to do anything but capitulate to assertions of national security,'' Zaid said.

[cthrumatrix]

24. national security "trumps crime " in our govt....this is bullshit

[ewagner]

25. Can this decision be appealed?

Can another (perhaps District) Court hear an appeal?

This can't end here........it just can't/

[Mandate My Ass]

27. No verdict - no appeal AFAIK

The judge refused to let the trial commence. Maybe she can refile her case and hope for another judge but I don't know if this can be done at the federal level.

Any lawyers here?

OTOH, a leak would be nice. Did ya hear me, Sibel? :nuke:

[myrna minx]

26. This needs a kick.

:kick: